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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. tear — to rip
  5. bear — the animal
  6. ground — a position
  7. degree — from a university
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. degree — temperature
  12. ground — the earth
  13. tear — from crying
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bear — the animal
  19. degree — an amount
  20. stem — to come from
  21. ground — crushed
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com